Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
“The only ones that can fix it are us” — After WKU Loss, Middle Tennessee football takes accountability
9/15/2024 9:55:00 AM | Football
Derek Mason, Nicholas Vattiato and Omari Kelly all took responsibility at the podium for the Blue Raiders’ sixth straight loss to WKU
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Derek Mason was calm by the time he appeared at the podium after Middle Tennessee's 49-21 loss to Western Kentucky.
He was classy, complimenting WKU for their level of play and talent. He was candid, pointing out special teams miscues, poor execution in the red zone and defensive breakdowns with a matter-of-fact tone.
Most of all, he was blunt about where the blame lay for the Blue Raiders' sixth straight loss in the series, one where MTSU allowed the Hilltoppers' backup quarterback to dice up the secondary for nearly 400 yards passing with only three incompletions, where the Blue Raiders failed to convert a fourth down in three tries and only scored in the redzone once in three trips.
"At the end of the day, I don't blame players, I blame me," Mason said. "My shoulders are big enough. What we will do as a staff and as a team is hold each other accountable. Because that's where the winning gets done."
That accountability started at the podium on Saturday night, where Mason expressed candor at the myriad issues his program's defense has after three games in 2024. Up front, while the interior push is acceptable, the edges are "soft and vulnerable," unable to set an edge and contain the run or the pass. The pass rush is mediocre, failing to push the opposing quarterback off the spot with any consistency with either a four-man rush or a pressure scheme. And in the backend, the secondary failed to win one-on-ones and the team, as whole, didn't tackle well.
"All of it is recipe for not playing good defense," Mason said, later adding he felt the defense was "stagnant" and not improving week-to-week through three games. "We've got to do some things to shake it up," Mason said. "Maybe (it's the) structure of what we do, and it maybe who we do it with, but we'll find it."
Accountability was not limited to the head coach, however. Just minutes earlier at the podium, Omari Kelly, who finished just five yards shy of the program record for receiving yards in a game after a nine catch, 239 yards, three touchdown night, put the onus on the players for why MTSU failed to score twice in the redzone in the first half, including failing to get in from the half-yard line four times after getting first and goal at the one.
"The big thing that we really need to work on is coming to practice with intent and actually having better practice habits than we've had in the past," Kelly said. "Once we figure that out, we'll be in the best spot."
His quarterback, Nicholas Vattiato, himself only three yards off from the program's single game passing yard record on Saturday after tossing 456 yards against the Hilltoppers, echoed Kelly's thought when it was his turn to speak to the media.
"We have to take ownership as players," Vattiato said. "Coaches can only do so much. Coaches can put us in the position, but at the end of the day, players have to be on the field and execute it. If we can't get six inches, then you shouldn't be playing football."
Their head coach agreed with his players' assessment. Through three games, MTSU is just 6-for-10 in converting redzone possessions into points. Just four of those six conversions have been touchdowns.
"I think the biggest thing is it's got to be a mentality," Mason said of the team's redzone woes. "We haven't smelt it yet. You've got to smell it and find a way to get it in, by hook or by crook, you've got to find a way to get it in, and we're not there."
With two tough opponents wrapping up nonconference play in September, the urgency in fixing what's wrong with the Blue Raiders was apparent postgame. There's a foundation already there to start, particularly on offense, where MTSU has been able to move the ball well between the 20s, albeit almost exclusively in the air. But it's going to require the team to double down on the blue collar, workman-like sensibility Mason has been preaching since he was hired.
"You can't get frustrated, you've just got to get to work," Mason said. "We just have to continue to challenge each other, in this space, because the only ones that can fix it are us."
And if his quarterback gets his way, Mason won't be the only one being hard on the players in practice this week.
"We've got to be hard, we've got to be so much harder on each other in practice," Vattiato said. "I'm going to be harder on the guys and the guys are going to be a lot more difficult and challenging on me. It's going to make us a lot better."
He was classy, complimenting WKU for their level of play and talent. He was candid, pointing out special teams miscues, poor execution in the red zone and defensive breakdowns with a matter-of-fact tone.
Most of all, he was blunt about where the blame lay for the Blue Raiders' sixth straight loss in the series, one where MTSU allowed the Hilltoppers' backup quarterback to dice up the secondary for nearly 400 yards passing with only three incompletions, where the Blue Raiders failed to convert a fourth down in three tries and only scored in the redzone once in three trips.
"At the end of the day, I don't blame players, I blame me," Mason said. "My shoulders are big enough. What we will do as a staff and as a team is hold each other accountable. Because that's where the winning gets done."
That accountability started at the podium on Saturday night, where Mason expressed candor at the myriad issues his program's defense has after three games in 2024. Up front, while the interior push is acceptable, the edges are "soft and vulnerable," unable to set an edge and contain the run or the pass. The pass rush is mediocre, failing to push the opposing quarterback off the spot with any consistency with either a four-man rush or a pressure scheme. And in the backend, the secondary failed to win one-on-ones and the team, as whole, didn't tackle well.
"All of it is recipe for not playing good defense," Mason said, later adding he felt the defense was "stagnant" and not improving week-to-week through three games. "We've got to do some things to shake it up," Mason said. "Maybe (it's the) structure of what we do, and it maybe who we do it with, but we'll find it."
Accountability was not limited to the head coach, however. Just minutes earlier at the podium, Omari Kelly, who finished just five yards shy of the program record for receiving yards in a game after a nine catch, 239 yards, three touchdown night, put the onus on the players for why MTSU failed to score twice in the redzone in the first half, including failing to get in from the half-yard line four times after getting first and goal at the one.
"The big thing that we really need to work on is coming to practice with intent and actually having better practice habits than we've had in the past," Kelly said. "Once we figure that out, we'll be in the best spot."
His quarterback, Nicholas Vattiato, himself only three yards off from the program's single game passing yard record on Saturday after tossing 456 yards against the Hilltoppers, echoed Kelly's thought when it was his turn to speak to the media.
"We have to take ownership as players," Vattiato said. "Coaches can only do so much. Coaches can put us in the position, but at the end of the day, players have to be on the field and execute it. If we can't get six inches, then you shouldn't be playing football."
Their head coach agreed with his players' assessment. Through three games, MTSU is just 6-for-10 in converting redzone possessions into points. Just four of those six conversions have been touchdowns.
"I think the biggest thing is it's got to be a mentality," Mason said of the team's redzone woes. "We haven't smelt it yet. You've got to smell it and find a way to get it in, by hook or by crook, you've got to find a way to get it in, and we're not there."
With two tough opponents wrapping up nonconference play in September, the urgency in fixing what's wrong with the Blue Raiders was apparent postgame. There's a foundation already there to start, particularly on offense, where MTSU has been able to move the ball well between the 20s, albeit almost exclusively in the air. But it's going to require the team to double down on the blue collar, workman-like sensibility Mason has been preaching since he was hired.
"You can't get frustrated, you've just got to get to work," Mason said. "We just have to continue to challenge each other, in this space, because the only ones that can fix it are us."
And if his quarterback gets his way, Mason won't be the only one being hard on the players in practice this week.
"We've got to be hard, we've got to be so much harder on each other in practice," Vattiato said. "I'm going to be harder on the guys and the guys are going to be a lot more difficult and challenging on me. It's going to make us a lot better."
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